Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s3.t6.12

v2.c10.s3.t6.12

century CE. The fifth volume of *Dazhuangyan Sutra* written by Bodhisattva Asvaghosa and translated by Kumarajiva in later Qin Dynasty said that, “Among the tribes, there are more belonging to Brahmins, and people tell the leader of the tribe that the book is named as Luomoyanshu or Poluotashu, and tells the story of the dead ascending to heaven”. Poluotashu is Mahabharata, and “the dead ascending to heaven” refers to the main content of the last book of Mahabharata - The Book of the Ascent to Heaven that after 36 years of reign, Yudhisthira finally gets rid of human hatred and worries, meets his brothers in heaven and all dead relatives of the Pandavas and Kauravas. They all become gods. In Chinese ancient Buddhist sutras and other literature, Mahabharata has missing information. However, because it has nothing to do with the main theme of Buddhism, it does not receive any attention from those translators, and no one translated it into Chinese.